REGION — The global weather data for the month of February is in, and according to the National Climatic Data Center, February was an extraordinarily cold month in the northeast section of the United States. The region’s average temperature of 13.5° F was 12.7° F below normal. This made it the second-coldest February on record behind 1934, which had an average temperature of 12° F.

There’s a brand new school that just opened that is green on the outside and green on the inside. It’s called the Evergreen Elementary School and it is the newest school in the Western Wayne school district. It is called Evergreen because it is a totally green school in construction and instruction. It will be attended by pre-Kindergarten to grade 5 students. Read more

Teasing, while unpleasant, is the sort of activity that stops when the perpetrator realizes that the target is hurt. Bullying is something else altogether—done deliberately to hurt another’s feelings—and is very damaging. Read more

A large crowd filled the Tusten Theatre and the Delaware Arts Center for a gala celebrating the 35th anniversary of the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance (DVAA) on October 9. The program included music and poetry from artists who have benefitted from the various programs, administered by the DVAA, as well as a short documentary on its history. Read more

About 60 instructors, students, visitors and friends climbed up two flights of stairs from the Eugene Nesin Theatre to the new location of the BOCES Health Occupations/Nursing Program. There, on October 5, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was performed, and visitors toured the classrooms, checking out the medical mannequins and other teaching equipment. Read more

SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY – A new poll conducted by Pulse Opinion Research shows that a large majority of residents in Sullivan County oppose hydraulic fracturing and favor the enactment of zoning regulations that would restrict it. Read more

WEST TRENTON, N.J. (Oct. 7) – The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) today announced that the previously scheduled October 21, 2011 special meeting for the commissioners to consider draft natural gas development regulations has been postponed. Read more

UPPER DELAWARE BASIN — Two dozen landowners across three states will share more than $175,000 in Common Waters Fund grants to develop forest management plans and implement sustainable management practices that protect water quality. The awards were distributed in September by the Pinchot Institute for Conservation. Read more

The plan was to allow the 2.4 million drivers in New York State who seek to renew their driving licenses each year to “self-certify” that their vision is up to par; they would no longer need a vision test performed at the many Department of Motor Vehicle offices around the state, or a note from their eye-doctor, to get a driver license renewal. Read more

Legislators in Sullivan County are currently required to disclose the clients they receive money from. Under proposed new rules, legislators and others would be required to disclose not only those clients, but also all clients that have been referred to the firm by the official. So, for example, a legislator who works as a lawyer for a law firm would be required not only to disclose his own clients, but also those he has referred to other lawyers at the firm.
This rule was adopted by state officials earlier this year, and now a group of residents is urging Sullivan County legislators to adopt a similar rule. Read more

Charles Petersheim’s new offices in Eldred reflect a measure of success that is rare in this era of economic hardship. Through his company, Catskill Farms, Petersheim has built and sold 100 homes since 2004 in various towns in Sullivan County, mostly to weekenders from the city. Read more

He calls it a barn but it’s a lot more than that.
It will be a center for the many workshops for writers and illustrators of children’s literature. Highlights for Children, which now has about two million subscribers, leads the industry of magazines produced for youngsters. Read more

Ecologist and author Sandra Steingraber has been named the recipient of a Heinz Award, which comes with a $100,000 unrestricted cash prize, in recognition of her research and writing on environmental health, as reported on Truthout (www.truth-out.org/heinz-award-and-what-i-plan-do-it/1316444029). Steingraber has announced her intent to devote the award to the fight against hydrofracking in upstate New York, where she lives with her husband and their two children. Read more

For 50 years, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has focused its work on protecting the waters of the Delaware River Basin (DRB). In addition to a decade-long biomonitoring program and other efforts detailed earlier in this series, the DRBC has focused lately on implementing its newest program, “Monitoring for Natural Gas Development (MNGD).” Read more

Tom Corbett has always been clear that he would not accept a tax on the soaring number of gas wells in Pennsylvania tapping into the Marcellus Shale. But he has now announced a plan that would allow counties to impose significant impact fees on gas wells. Read more

The time for marketing the new business park has arrived after years of development and growing pains. Begun in 2002, the park had its problems like any other large public project but now that’s all behind them. Read more

Animal blessings were offered at various locations in the Upper Delaware region last weekend in celebration of St. Francis Feast Day, which occurs October 4. The event honors St. Francis, an Italian Catholic friar and preacher known as the patron saint of animals. Read more

Governor Tom Corbett today announced his plans to implement
numerous recommendations of the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, including changes to enhance environmental standards, an impact fee, and a plan to help
move Pennsylvania toward energy independence. Read more

Sullivan County Manager David Fanslau has issued a Flash Flood Warning that is effective through 2:15 PM this afternoon for Southeastern Sullivan County. Locations in the warning include but are not limited to Bloomingburg, Fallsburg, Hartwood, Haven, Highview, Phillipsport, Rock Hill, Thompsonville, Woodbourne, Woodridge, and Wurtsboro. Read more